By JANESSA RAINVILLE
Graphic by Janessa Rainville.
Local 58, what is it? Local 58 is an analog horror series on YouTube by Kris Straub. It is a series based around it being footage from a fictional public access TV channel, WCLV-TV, in Mason County, West Virginia. It was originally launched in the 1930s, but has been hijacked countless times over the decades.
If you were looking for a good example of analog horror from my last story on CreepCast, Local 58 is the prime example of modern analog horror. For those who don’t now, analog horror is a genre of YouTube videos that take on a quality of the late 20th century media, such as VHS tapes. This horror typically uses low-quality visuals (such as static), distorted audio, fake news broadcasts and a found footage feel. Seeing that Local 58 is mostly about a fictional news station getting repeatedly hijacked, you can tell how it is a corner stone of the genre.
Now, on to the different videos apart of this series. The first video posted is called “You Are On The Fastest Available Route”, briefly showing the Local 58 TV’s schedule before cutting to someone’s dash cam while driving in the rain. The camera glitches occasionally as the GPS directs the driver into the back roads rather than on the highway. The GPS hen directs the driver to go into roads with “Do Not Enter” signs. Then it tells the driver to turn off their headlights, which the driver complies with. The Audio glitches out loudly and the driver seems to turn around and speed off. The camera glitches before showing the front windshield is broken, the driver has crashed.
Another video that is also well known in the series, “Contingency” is the second video of the series and shows the station getting hijacked and broadcasting something unsettling as they conclude their broadcast day. It broadcast a Contingency Message Reel that is not to be used after Nov. 13th, 1970. It was supposed to be used in the vent of the United States complete surrender to enemy forces. The seal shown on the tape has the words “U.S DEPERTMNT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERCAN DIGNITY” surrounding it. While text scrolls on the screen, a distorted sounding version of Star-Spangled Banner plays. The tape tells people to “ACT” and “Let our united resolve echo through history: Even in defeat, we refused to yield”. After the hijack, Local 58 takes over again and displays a “Technical Difficulties” screen before telling the public that the tape was a hoax.
One last video for me to tell you about, there are more, but I’ll let you watch those. This video is titled “Show For Children” and it opens with a schedule card. On the schedule, this show is apparently being aired at 4:15 am and that’s already unusual. The show follows a skeleton named Cadavre and the show tends to focus on him and the smiling moon while Cadavre walks through a graveyard. Eventually Cadavre lays down in an empty grave as the no longer smiling moon passes over him and he is suddenly an inanimate skeleton.
This has been my coverage of Local 58! If you are still in a spooky mood from Halloween, I highly suggest this.